NEW DELHI: In a fresh bid to sharpen India’s unmanned warfare edge after Operation Sindoor, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has reached out to private industry to build a swarm of 50 drones that can fly barely 50 cm apart and manoeuvre as a single formation even in high winds and heavy jamming,
The project sets an exacting bar with the DRDO wanting the drones to hold their positions to within five centimetres of each other, in all three axes, even in 20-metre-per-second winds and at heights up to 5,000 metres.
The Request for Proposal (RFP) floated under DRDO’s Technology Development Fund (TDF) calls for a “stable drone cluster” of at least 49 “slave” drones in a seven-by-seven grid, flown by a single “master” drone that coordinates the swarm on commands from a ground station. In effect, one operator commands the entire cluster.
The project comes amid the military’s renewed focus on drones, loitering munitions and counter-unmanned aerial systems after Operation Sindoor last May. Director General (DG) of Army Air Defence (AAD) Lt Gen Sumer Ivan D’Cunha had said Pakistan launched between 800 and 1,000 drones across the western border over four days during the conflict.
The Army has since stepped up trials of indigenous loitering munitions and counter-drone systems, including at Babina, with private firms and startups increasingly being roped in to rapidly develop and field new systems.
“A lot of this is now being pulled by the Services themselves, working directly with industry. But for the harder, cutting-edge technologies, the TDF route through DRDO remains important,” a source in the defence and security establishment said.
The latest project certainly falls in that category. DRDO itself classifies it as “deep tech and cutting edge”, with the swarm required to fly with an inter-drone spacing of 500 mm or less and positional accuracy of plus or minus five centimetres across all three axes.
Positional errors will have to be corrected within around 500 milliseconds. The swarm must maintain formation even in winds of 20 metres per second, while also being dynamically reconfigurable from the ground.
“At such close separation, there is very little margin for error. A navigation or control failure can lead to collisions within the formation,” another source explained.
Each drone will have to carry a payload ranging from 500 gm to 2 kg, remain airborne for at least 30 minutes and recharge within 15 minutes. The entire system, when packed, should be deployable within five minutes.
Moreover, there is a clear maritime requirement as well. A drone launched from a moving ship must be capable of returning to the launch point, rather than merely the geographical coordinates from where it took off.
Electronic warfare resilience is another major thrust area. The RFP specifies a five-km “jammer proof” communication link operating in the S-band, High Frequency band or C-band with Electronic Counter-Countermeasure (ECCM) features.
The critical technologies identified include high-precision navigation, swarm intelligence and control algorithms, flight-control systems, Artificial Intelligence and edge computing, cybersecurity and electronic warfare protection.
Importantly, DRDO has also flagged augmentation of Navigation with Indian Constellation (NAVIC), India’s satellite navigation system, an indigenous autopilot stack and domestic manufacture of sensors such as Inertial Measurement Units and Light Detection and Ranging systems.
The project mandates indigenous content of over 70 per cent, while commercial off-the-shelf components from “adversary countries” are to be avoided.
The final package will comprise 50 drones, batteries with 100 per cent spares, communication and control subsystems as well as all algorithms, applications and source codes. Prototype development and functional testing are targeted within 12 months, with qualification, trials, technology transfer and project closure stretching to 24 months.
The fresh project is primarily meant for Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and startups, with Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) and other Public Sector Undertakings barred from bidding. One development agency will finally be selected.
Electronic warfare resilience is another major thrust area. The RFP specifies a five-km “jammer proof” communication link operating in the S-band, High Frequency band or C-band with Electronic Counter-Countermeasure (ECCM) features.
The critical technologies identified include high-precision navigation, swarm intelligence and control algorithms, flight-control systems, Artificial Intelligence and edge computing, cybersecurity and electronic warfare protection.
Importantly, DRDO has also flagged augmentation of Navigation with Indian Constellation (NAVIC), India’s satellite navigation system, an indigenous autopilot stack and domestic manufacture of sensors such as Inertial Measurement Units and Light Detection and Ranging systems.
The project mandates indigenous content of over 70 per cent, while commercial off-the-shelf components from “adversary countries” are to be avoided.
The final package will comprise 50 drones, batteries with 100 per cent spares, communication and control subsystems as well as all algorithms, applications and source codes. Prototype development and functional testing are targeted within 12 months, with qualification, trials, technology transfer and project closure stretching to 24 months.
The fresh project is primarily meant for Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and startups, with Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) and other Public Sector Undertakings barred from bidding. One development agency will finally be selected.